1580s, from French ode (c. 1500), from Late Latin ode "lyric song," from Greek ōidē, an Attic contraction of aoidē "song, ode;" related to aeidein (Attic aidein) "to sing;" aoidos (Attic oidos) "a singer, singing;" aude "voice, tone, sound," probably from a PIE *e-weid-, perhaps from root *wed- "to speak." In classical use, "a poem intended to be sung;" in modern use usually a rhymed lyric, often an address, usually dignified, rarely extending to 150 lines. Related: Odic.

1540s, "epic poem," also "a book of an epic" (suitable for recitation at one time), from French rhapsodie, from Latin rhapsodia, from Greek rhapsōidia "verse composition, recitation of epic poetry; a book, a lay, a canto," from rhapsōdos "reciter of epic poems," literally "one who stitches or strings songs together," from stem of rhaptein "to stitch, sew, weave" (from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend") + ōidē "song" (see ode).

According to Beekes, the notion in the Greek word is "originally 'who sews a poem together', referring to the uninterrupted sequence of epic verses as opposed to the strophic compositions of lyrics." William Mure ["Language and Literature of Antient Greece," 1850] writes that the Homeric rhapsōidia "originally applied to the portions of the poems habitually allotted to different performers in the order of recital, afterwards transferred to the twenty-four books, or cantos, into which each work was permanently divided by the Alexandrian grammarians."

The word had various specific or extended senses 16c.-17c., mostly now obsolete or archaic. Among them was "miscellaneous collection, confused mass (of things)," thus "literary work consisting of miscellaneous or disconnected pieces, a rambling composition." This, now obsolete, might be the path of the word to the meaning "an exalted or exaggeratedly enthusiastic expression of sentiment or feeling, speech or writing with more enthusiasm than accuracy or logical connection of ideas" (1630s). The meaning "sprightly musical composition" is recorded by 1850s.

late 14c., tragedien, "writer of tragic plays or poems," from Old French tragediane (Modern French tragédien), from tragedie (see tragedy).

Another word for this was tragician (mid-15c.). The meaning "actor in tragedies" is from 1590s. French-based fem. form tragédienne is from 1851 in English. In late classical Greek, tragodos was the actor, tragodopoios the writer.

1590s, "perform in a tragedy;" 1754, "convert (something) into a tragedy;" 1756 "act or speak tragically;" see tragedy + -ize. Related: Tragedized; tragedizing.

1540s, "calamitous, disastrous, fatal" ("resembling the actions at the conclusion of a stage tragedy"); 1560s, "pertaining to or of the nature of tragedy;" earlier tragical (late 15c., Caxton), modeled on Latin tragicus, from Greek tragikos "of or pertaining to tragedy; stately, majestic; plaintive," literally "goatish, of or pertaining to a goat," and perhaps referring to a satyr impersonated by a goat singer or satyric actor, from tragodia (see tragedy).

Tragic flaw "outward flaw in a hero through want of thought or judgment" (1913) translates Greek hamartia. Related: Tragically.